Saturday, March 22, 2008

After a rough day on Tuesday, Kelly has bounced back to her cheerful self rather quickly this week. She has felt good and you would never know it was a chemo week.

We are really moving along with our Relay for Life. We are doing well moving toward our fundraising goals. Thanks to O'Neill Elementary School, where Shannon goes to school and Megan and Kelly attended their first seven years of school, for the coin drive. (and many thanks to Pam for getting that together!!) Shannon is touched to see how many of her classmates care about Kelly and want to donate to the American Cancer Society to help cancer patients like her sister.

Now we are working on decorations and a purpose for our campsite. Each team is representing a type of cancer. Our team is representing Childhood Cancer. Since the color for childhood cancer is gold, we are going to use gold stars and have each one represent a child who is fighting, or has fought cancer. I am putting their photo, name and diagnosis on the stars so everyone can see that his is not just an adult disease. So many children are also affecting by cancer. We will also have some facts and statistics on Childhood Cancer. So for anyone in our PBT group, or any family with a child dealing with any type of cancer, (both survivors and angels) can I have your permission to display your child's picture, name, diagnosis on a gold star to hang at our tent? This is such a tough fight and I want to recognize as many kids as we can and make an impact on at least our community of just how many children are impacted by this disease. You can leave a message under comments, or email me at kathylaude@cox.net Thank you so much for sharing your children to help bring awareness of Childhood Cancer.

View from Lantern Bay Park, where our Relay for Life will be help April 19 -20

Lantern Bay Park - Pacific Ocean through the trees

Speaking of other children fighting cancer, we had a fun night last night with our friends the Diemers. Chloe has been fighting leukemia since last May and she had her Make A Wish party last night to receive her wish. They are headed to Disney World Monday morning for a week of Florida fun. Have a great time Diemer Family!! We'll see you when you get back and are looking forward to seeing your photos.

6 comments:

Good morning, Team Kelly!! I'm so glad to hear how well Kelly's treatment went this round and that she's had a good week.

You know you're more than welcome to share Jessica on your display. Can I share Kelly on my Wall of Courage? :) I sent an email to the PBT list ... let me know if you got it. I can re-forward if you like.

Jessica's info:Jessica Randall: 6/6/90 - 6/9/07dx: anaplastic astrocytoma on 6/8/06 at 16 years old (and 2 days)earned her wings on 6/9/07 at 17 years old (and 3 days)

Hi Kelly, Sorry I didn't see you Wed. when I stopped by, but I know you were not feeling that well. Next time, ok? Have A Blessed Easter tomorrow, and a lovely time with your family next week. With love, Patty

I'm glad we got to participate in your friend Chloe's send off. Now we have Easter and Spring Break to look forward to. There's ALWAYS something nice to look forward to! Maybe a nice horse ride or a trip to the Renaissance Faire?

I've been remiss in the story-telling department, I'm afraid. The truth is, I've run out of Fergus stories, and my stock of Nova Scotia stories is depleted, too.

But, if you'll bear with me, I'll resurrect Angus for you, and tell you some of my earliest childhood adventures.

Even now, I have a hard time believing that Angus has ben dead for over 52 years, but it is so.

Angus was the collie puppy my parents bought for me when I was 9 or 10 months old. Whether the purchase was wise or foolish has been debated in our family for years, but buy him they did, and I think I'm the better for it.

My mother, father, and I were living in an apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side when Angus joined us. He had some definite ideas, I can tell you. One was that gas stoves were definitely dangerous. If my parents were in the kitchen washing and peeling vegetables, he allowed me to be in the kitchen with them, but if they put the potatoes on to boil, for example, that was it. He would gently push me to the floor, grab me by the seat of my pants, and drag me out of the kitchen. I could play in the dining room, I could go to the living room, I could go wherever I liked, but the kitchen was off-limits until all burners and the oven were off. That was an absolute rule, and there were NO exceptions.

Another Angus rule was: I get to crunch and eat your plastic blocks. You may have the wooden ones (they're not nearly as yummy), but the plastic ones are MINE. And he was quick, too. I thought I might get to the blocks faster if I took my tricycle, but no. Crunch, crunch, and another block would be gone.

Angus and I shared a passion for ice cream, and, being a dog, his hearing was better than mine, though my mother always says not by much. Anyway, he could hear the ice cream truck before I could, and he would cock his head a certain way, sit down, and lick his chops, and that way I knew the ice cream truck was coming. Now, that's a true friend, you have to admit.

Kelly's Story

Kelly was diagnosed with a grade 4 glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumor) in July, 2007. She had surgery to have the tumor removed at Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, California. After one round of radiation and chemotherapy, she had another surgery to remove a recurrent tumor on October 22. She is receiving further treatment to try to prevent another recurrence. This website is to keep friends and family updated on her journey and her progress. She loves to read comments posted here for her!

Treatment Plan8/07 - 9/07 30 days radiation along with 42 days of oral temodar. Her first post radiation MRI showed recurrence of her tumor, so this treatment was changed.

11/16 Gamma Knife Radiosurgery - attempt to create a "boundary" to contain cancer cells to the one area of her brain

11/07 to present Irinotecan (also known as CPT-11) and Avastin given every other week

Leave a message for Kelly...

A big thank you to everyone who has posted messages to the blog. Kelly checks them everyday and it means so much to her to hear from all of you and know you are thinking of her. It really makes her happy to know so many people are cheering her on.

If you'd like to post a message and aren't sure how, go down to the bottom of the post that you would like to add a comment to and click on comments. If someone has already posted a comment, you will also see a number telling how many people have commented. Then login or create a new account, which is easy. You just need a name and password. If you post under "anonymous" please remember to sign your name so we know who it is from.

If you click on anonymous, you don't have to have an identity or password, so that may be easier!